I’ll post some watch pictures for #HeuerSummer2015 later, but I thought I’d start the Summer 2015 topic with my favourite summer read. The book is called “Do Not Sell at Any Price” by Amanda Petrusich, it is built from a series of interviews with noted collectors of super rare 78 records.

The book is fascinating and well written, and struck a chord with me - there is so many similarities with Heuer collecting, because it is such a niche collecting sphere, with only a small number of very knowledgeable collectors - the ratio of 78 collectors to LP collectors is probably the same as the ratio of Heuer collectors to Rolex collectors.

Certainly the phrase "do not sell at any price” is some thing Heuer collectors know very well …..hello the 2446SN Autavias (to pick a topical one), any Chronomatic model, the Skipperera, the Dark Lord, and many more, which collectors are reluctant to sell because they know they may never get the chance to own another one.

I picked out a few quotes which I just found so perfectly described Heuer collectors as well as 78 collectors.

The book perfectly describes the maniacal obsession of the true WIS :

“Let me say something: a collector is a nut, regardless of what he collects. And if he takes things too seriously, if he can’t laugh at it, if he doesn’t find it amusing, if he can’t see that he is a nut, then that’s about the time to put him behind bars.”

The fear of new, less passionate, collectors skewing Heuer prices;

"the fear that rare-record collecting could one day become analogous to fine-art collecting—the obligation of wealthy aristocrats whose consumption of art is more a statement of status than a function of love or even understanding. Collectors find that possibility legitimately horrifying”.

The very male culture of collecting:

"It’s dudes hanging out, relating to each other through objects….guys tend to gather and not talk about their actual lives, if they can avoid it, but instead refer to the engine of their car, or whatever third thing they can talk about. And then through the aesthetics of that, they’ll relate to one another and get a sense of whether somebody is trustworthy or not and if they can actually open up to them,”

The singleminded pursuit of rarity which somewhat reverses the history of Heuer (e.g.: Skipperera is more important than a Viceroy):

“By emphasizing obscurity as a virtue unto itself, they essentially turned the hierarchy of blues stardom upside down: the more records an artist had sold in 1928, the less he or she was valued in 1958,”

But really, the main thing the book is emphasises is the noble collector; someone who researches and rescues historic artefacts for posterity:

"For McKune, collecting was a sacred pursuit—a way of salvaging and anointing songs and artists that had been unjustly marginalized. It was about training yourself to act as a gatekeeper, a savior”
….or
"crazy old John Tefteller saved that wild, miraculous song from rotting away in a trunk in Wisconsin”

If you have any interest in music, and are reading this forum, you will love the book!

#HeuerSummer2015